Thursday, January 23, 2014

Movie Remakes Better Than Original

1) The Departed - Martin Scorsese
While Wai-keaung Lau Internal Affairs was considered a
masterpiece, Scorsese fine-tunes by upping the stakes, and adding black humor
using a script by William Monaghan. By adding a layer of high-wire tension without
taking itself too seriously, the film is more enjoyable, a thrill ride. And who
can forget the exceptional cast? The film went on to win an Oscar for best
picture.

2) True Grit — Coen Brothers

There will always be people who will forever love the John
Wayne original and even think it blasphemy to have remade this. Yet the Coen
brothers made “Rooster” more human. He was tortured and crass, made obvious by
his alcoholism, but of course an expert with a gun.Jeff Bridges outshines in this role, with a
great supporting cast.

3) Ocean’s Eleven — Steven Soderbergh

It would take a master director to compete with the Rat Pack
original by Lewis Milestone and that’s exactly what happened. While the same
story, Ted Griffin’s script is much smarter and makes use of the technology now
available. Soderbergh delivers a funny,
slick, entertaining and sexy movie with the some of the most watchable actors
Hollywood has to offer. It stands on it’s own.

4) Maltese Falcon — John Huston

Many filmgoers are not aware that this Dashiell Hammett
novel has been made twice before. But Huston’s version is so well done no one
questions the projects origins. Huston’s film is sexier, darker, wittier and
more courageous than the previous. Though we lose Bette Davis, we gain Humphrey
Bogart.

5) Airplane — Jerry and David Zucker

Based on an actual plane-in-trouble thriller from 1957 called
Zero Hour the filmmakers and cast have enormous fun in sending up every
possible scene. Leslie Neilson has a comedic field day as Dr. Rumack from the original. It’s great fun to watch them side-by-side.

6) The Thing — John Carpenter

John Carpenter swaps out the fear of Communism for Aids,
without losing the intended paranoia that wreaks havoc with a small band of
scientists. Using an amazing cast, he weaves through this bone-chilling and
insidious thriller, by far eclipsing the original with a horrifying and
ambiguous ending.

7) Little Shop of Horrors — Frank Oz

Though the original gave us Jack Nicholson, this remake is
completely demented, in a good way. With all of its dark humor, quirks and fun
cameos, this is a quite an enjoyable film, even if you didn’t like the play.
It’s worth a view if just for Steve Martin's deranged dentist.

8) Fatal Attraction —
Adrian Lyne

Again, not well known, but this was based on a British TV thriller
called Diversion. Lyne takes the material and delivers one of the scariest,
cautionary tales of all time.

9) Insomnia —
Christopher Nolan

Nolan remade this Scandinavian thriller adding a layer of
film noir, and an impressionable cast that alters the texture of the original.
While the original is excellent, this remake infuses it with a higher realm of
excitement. By setting the film in Alaska, the movie is incredibly
claustrophobic adding to the overall tension.

10) 3:10 to Yuma — James
Mangold

While Delmer Davis delivered a strong Western for the time,
Mangold, with the help of a tight script, stunning visuals and dead-on casting
recreated a story that now remains one of the best Westerns ever made. His
direction never lets up and completely blew the lid off the original.

Rhonda Talbot weighing in on film remakes. Sometimes they are better than the original.